I see it. I hear it. I read it.
I’m talking about all of the workouts you athletes are blogging, posting and talking about and I’m here to tell you you can do a lot better. I’m not saying what you’re doing is wrong but you are. What we as experienced high performance coaches, sports scientists and physiologists know which you don’t will really help you get the most out of your training time. What you’ll read below is what the Professionals know and do and what most amateurs don’t. This information, the secret sauce, will help you illicit a better training response in your body and absorb more fitness. These are trade secrets which I’m giving and there’s so much more but take this and apply it to your own program. I’m not going to say if you’re not using these methods than you and/or your ‘coach’ are doing it wrong, but you are.
How to task an interval session. This is how to approach an interval training session whether it’s a swim, bike, run, row, x ski or whatever.
Warmup- this is 50-60% of max HR. As an example, if you run a 10K at 9 minute pace then you should easily be at 11 minute pace
Stretch- Yes, stop and stretch for 1-3 minutes
Pre Set- these are also known as openers and are 10-20 seconds in length at about 80-90% effort. 3-5 of these should do
Main Set- whatever your main set of intervals are
Rest for 5-20 minutes at 50-60% of max HR
Second Set- if you have it
Cooldown- again 5-30 minutes of easy pace at 50-60% of max HR
Now is the time to get in a recovery drink and nap.
To sum up, always keep in mind this great saying. Start fast, finish last.
-Elite Coach Lee Zohlman, BodyZen MultiSport Coaching